It is my understanding that his attorney can use your income earning “potential” opposed to your actual income since you willfully left your job. I’m not 100% on this but I’m pretty sure it’s legal. My ex’s attorney convinced a judge that 4 months after my divorce I purposely lost a job i loved to get more money in child support from my ex. I brought documented proof that i lost my job when my child took ill and I was not granted the leave i needed because I didnt have the personal leave available… and my motion to modify child support was still denied… I’d tell you from experience bring EVERYTHING you have to court with you… Put ALL your important documents in a file folder and just bring the whole thing. You never know what could save your butt… Any incriminating emails all of it… My ex’s attorney brought an email I wrote my ex into court, naturally he only brought in a portion of the email and nothing of my ex’s email that I was replying too… In my email i had called my ex a dead beat and said I was going to be sure that I was granted back pay on the child support he hadnt paid me yet… His attorney said it was a harassing email and that it was merely a judge of my character… Mind you this man whom I was once married too hadnt paid child support in several months despite a court order AND hadnt seen his daughter in over a year despite living 30 mins away from us… SO… All I can do is wish you luck and tell you bring EVERYTHING!

Good Luck… I’ll be using my income tax return to hire an attorney and hopefully take my ex back to court next year…

If you two were living at the same location after seperation, your seperation date will change to the date you were no longer living at the same residence. You can request a statement showing he is paying his mother 300.00 a month to look after the children. Being that it is his mother, it is possible she will write it even if he isn’t giving her a dime. You need to point out to her that if she does make such a statement in court, she will have to back it up by filing it as income with the IRS as income, or she could be fined and audited. I am not trying to start a family war, but I have found out that no matter how much the other spouse’s family “loves” you they will stay in the corner of their own. You need to protect yourself. As for using your old income, why did you “have” to leave this job? Was it a direct result of harassment from your ex? If so, try bringing a letter from your former employer stating that. In the meantime, continue to look for employment at the level you were at before. Keep documentation of interviews, applications, and where you send your resumes to. Basically, show the judge that you are trying to better your employment situation. I am curious as to why he is filing for divorce from bed and board, if in fact you have already vacated the marital home.
As to courtroom etiquitte, dress appropriately, modest make up and hairstyle. The speaking part is harder. Stick to the facts, leave emotion out of it. What I did is had a notebook with an outline (like from english class) of what I needed to say. The first time I went infront of the judge I was emotional and it really didn’t help me, so the next time, I went by my notes and made a point of sticking with the facts only. That time I wasn’t patted on the head and shooed out the door. Leighasmom is right in the point of taking EVERYTHING you have to court. The judge will only rule with what he has in front of him.

Hello all…I have a court hearing next week in which my dh’s lawyer will try to impute income to me…here’s the situation and a little background.

My husband and I seperated on July 4th and I moved in with his mom to save up enough money to move to my own place…My stbx is an alcoholic and I have really had enough…we have two children. At that time that we seperated, the children were staying with me during the day and him at night, on account that I work third and he works first.

A month before we seperated, I started corresponding online with another guy…in retrospect, it was probably not the smartest thing to do…but anyways, i did it and need to own up to it. About a month after I seperated, me and new dude decided to take a trip to the beach…during this time, my stbx decided to move back to his mother’s house, where I was living. To make matters worse, he had found out that I was seeing someone else and took my cell phone from me, he then had access to my email and my myspace page…he went just a wee bit crazy and was really upset over some things he had discovered…he was verbally abusive to me and I was scared that he would try to hurt me and most of this was done in front of the children…I had to leave becasue of this harrassment. In doing so, I had to leave my job that I was making 10.95 an hour and take the first job that was available to me in Raleigh which was part time and 7.50 an hour…his lawyer is trying to impute income to me at the higher rate of what I was making at my old job…can he do this? I’m going to go to court pro se because I can not afford a lawyer…I need to know what to do so that I can protect myself and not get taken advantage of. He has also told his lawyer that he is paying over 300 a month in worke related child care expenses…I know that this is not true, as his mom is watching them…do they have to prove this? can I ask for proof?

Also I have in the divorce from bed and board paper work that his lawyer served me with, that he claims I left on July 4th and quit my job as well on that date …that is untrue and I have a paycheck that proves it…can I use this in court? atleast as a way for him to look unreliable?